Christian, who does your soul love? Who do you love with your whole heart? Is it God? Is it self? Is it someone or something else?

Is Jesus saying to you, as John wrote to the church in Ephesus, that “you have left your first love” (Rev. 2:4)? This is something to ponder.

Is your heart on fire for Him, or are your passions turned elsewhere? Jesus said, “if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Lk. 9:23).

It is nothing for the world not to love Him; for no one can love Him unless He loves them first (1 Jn. 4:19). But once we have experienced His love, could we then spurn Him? May it never be!

No, let us cling to Him and not let go (Song of Solomon 3:4). Let us love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Mk. 12:30). Let us draw near to Him, that He might draw near to us (Jas. 4:8).

Christ loved us, so much so, that He was willing to die for us. We should so love Christ that we are willing to do the same for Him. We must die to self that we may live for Him.

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Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening Devotions

Evening, September 29

"I found Him whom my soul loveth: I held Him, and would not let Him go." Song of Solomon 3:4

Does Christ receive us when we come to Him, notwithstanding all our past sinfulness? Does He never chide us for having tried all other refuges first? And is there none on earth like Him? Is He the best of all the good, the fairest of all the fair? Oh, then let us praise Him! Daughters of Jerusalem, extol Him with timbrel and harp! Down with your idols, up with the Lord Jesus. Now let the standards of pomp and pride be trampled under foot, but let the cross of Jesus, which the world frowns and scoffs at, be lifted on high. O for a throne of ivory for our King Solomon! let Him be set on high for ever, and let my soul sit at His footstool, and kiss His feet, and wash them with my tears. Oh, how precious is Christ! How can it be that I have thought so little of Him? How is it I can go abroad for joy or comfort when He is so full, so rich, so satisfying. Fellow believer, make a covenant with thine heart that thou wilt never depart from Him, and ask thy Lord to ratify it. Bid Him set thee as a signet upon His finger, and as a bracelet upon His arm. Ask Him to bind thee about Him, as the bride decketh herself with ornaments, and as the bridegroom putteth on his jewels. I would live in Christ's heart; in the clefts of that rock my soul would eternally abide. The sparrow hath made a house, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God; and so too would I make my nest, my home, in Thee, and never from Thee may the soul of Thy turtle dove go forth again, but may I nestle close to Thee, O Jesus, my true and only rest.
When my precious Lord I find,
All my ardent passions glow;
Him with cords of love I bind,
Hold and will not let Him go.